Video: Shea-Porter has constituent arrested at town-hall forum

posted at 1:20 pm on August 30, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

This is a curious re-election strategy, especially for a Representative who made her name by bird-dogging her former Congressman at his town-hall forums. Consistency isn’t Carol Shea-Porter’s strong suit, apparently, as she demonstrates in this clip from the meeting she finally held with constituents after dodging them for most of the month. When one of her constituents challenges the presence of union enforcers in the crowd, Shea-Porter asks for police intervention:

I’ve watched this video a couple of times, and I still can’t figure out why the police took this man out of the room. He was actually less disruptive than the woman behind him. He challenged Shea-Porter on the appearance of SEIU protesters in the room, one of whom got up and disrupted his question. When the first man then challenged the residency of the SEIU rep, police swooped in and removed him.

According to Now Hampshire, they removed the man because he didn’t get a Golden Ticket to allow him to speak at the meeting:

In four short years Carol Shea-Porter has evolved from a rabble-rousing, town hall disrupting anti-war activist who once had to be forcibly removed from a President George Bush event in Portsmouth to a Member of Congress who instructed armed security guards to remove a frustrated voter from her own town hall event in Manchester on Saturday.

In the appended video, Shea-Porter can be seen instructing security to remove a man for standing to ask a question without a ticket. Shea-Porter previously held a lottery to determine who could ask questions. She can also be heard taunting the man on his way out by saying, “I do hope the movie theater can be a little quieter for you.”

Now Hampshire also reports that the man they removed is Carl Tomanelli — a retired policeman.

Shea-Porter heaped disparagement on “tea-baggers” who showed up to dissent on ObamaCare, which is rich with irony, considering Shea-Porter’s history:

“The irony is, of course, that Shea-Porter used to be a ‘tea-bagger’ on the left,” writes Nashua Telegraph columnist Kevin Landrigan. “She stalked then-congressman Jeb Bradley at town hall-style meetings the 1st District Republican incumbent held throughout his district.”

Four years ago Carol Shea-Porter protested at the State House alongside people dressed as Nazis while accusing the federal government of trying “to brand us like sheep.” On Saturday, she disparagingly referred to people who do not trust the same federal government to run our health care system as “these people.”

“We remember when, Carol, do you,” asks Landrigan.

But that was when she was one of the hoi polloi. Now, she’s in power, and Shea-Porter doesn’t deign to take questions without preselecting who can speak in her presence. And that’s a re-election strategy that is both all too familiar and increasing unlikely to succeed in 2010.

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Typical Democrat . . . doesn’t want to hear from anyone other than their parasitic constituents that want more “free stuff” from this nanny government. We need to throw every one of them out on their liberal butts.

Sadly it reveals the fact that many cops, when it gets right down to it, are government/union hacks. The video of the cop telling a dude at another town hall that he couldn’t have a sign with Obama’s name on it is telling as well.

Unions are about as Un-American as you can get. Stifling free speech of private citizens, retired public servants for God’s sake, in the name of self interest. Despicable. I hate those communist bastards.

I’m ashamed to admit this, but I had no idea that was her background. Interesting that someone that made her name that way would have such thin skin about these townhalls. Not really surprising though.

I’m ashamed to admit this, but I had no idea that was her background. Interesting that someone that made her name that way would have such thin skin about these townhalls. Not really surprising though.

stldave on August 30, 2009 at 1:34 PM

It shouldn’t surprise you. Look at Obama. The only job he’s had in his life before being elected to office was as a street rabble-rouser, ie: “community organizer”, and look how thin skinned he is about ACTUAL communities organizing…

This is how Americans are treated under the regime of Osama Obama. He has brought the lowest rabble into the government to do his bidding, and together they are trampling the Constitution, not to mention basic decency and civility.

Shea-Porter is the one who should be led from the room. In handcuffs. Same goes for Lord Obama and his scurrilous lackeys.

It shouldn’t surprise you. Look at Obama. The only job he’s had in his life before being elected to office was as a street rabble-rouser, ie: “community organizer”, and look how thin skinned he is about ACTUAL communities organizing…

wildcat84 on August 30, 2009 at 1:39 PM

correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Hitler start off as a “community organizer”?

Sal Alinsky must have his book in all the Dems bathrooms….so that when they are doing #2 (which they box up fresh to send to the WH so Rahm “the F-Word” Emmanuel never runs out to give to MSM) they have a good “laxative” inducer [besides of course the required poster of The Messiah getting Crowned in the Greek Temple - that will clean anyone's bowels quickly enough]………..

Unless we ACTUALLY throw these people out of office with our votes, you can rest assured this is the way America will go, armed OFFICIALS arresting us on a whim, removing us from town halls. Either remove them or suffer the consequences, as that security guard said this ain’t America no more.

What’s with the cops lately?Not just this but a lot of clips they’re pushing people around, arresting them for nothing. Well, well where’s the ACLU

Jeff from WI on August 30, 2009 at 1:40 PM

Silly Jeff! Don’t you understand that virtually EVERY police force is UNIONIZED? Even the cops understand which side of the bread the butter is on. It brings the phrase “To Serve & Protect” even more into clarity when you realize they are serving and protecting the folks who negotiate their wage and retirement benefits.

Unless we ACTUALLY throw these people out of office with our votes, you can rest assured this is the way America will go, armed OFFICIALS arresting us on a whim, removing us from town halls. Either remove them or suffer the consequences, as that security guard said this ain’t America no more.

jainphx on August 30, 2009 at 1:46 PM

That’s what the “civillian defense corp” is for. Brownshirts to arrest political opposition.

Having ‘been there, done that’, I have a sneaking suspicion that local cops are not really up to snuff or had training in public protests. They’re thrown in “to keep the peace”. Unfortunately there is a very fine line between keeping the peace and allowing political dissent, no matter how uncomfortable it may make the politicians.

As with the rent-a-cop in Florida, I’d have gotten arrested and then sued them in court. Nothing gets public officials attention faster than having to shell out taxpayer dollars for stupid mistakes. It has a tendency to have negative consequences in the next election results.

I’m quite sure they have a full plate as it is, after all who’s going to protect the pedafiles,illegals and all those wanting to bleed the working class. As far as i’m concearned the ACLU are nothing more than leeches on society and needs to be removed from any form of Federal funding.

We’ve seen cattle ranches give way to railroads. We chronicled the construction of Hoover Dam. We reported on the first day of legalized gambling. The first hospital. The first school. The first church. We survived the mob, Howard Hughes, the Great Depression, several recessions, two world wars, dozens of news competitors and any number of two-bit politicians who couldn’t stand scrutiny, much less criticism.

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We’re still here doing what we do for the people of Las Vegas and Nevada. So, let me assure you, if we weathered all of that, we can damn sure outlast the bully threats of Sen. Harry Reid.

On Wednesday, before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Reid joined the chamber’s board members for a meet-’n’-greet and a photo. One of the last in line was the Review-Journal’s director of advertising, Bob Brown, a hard-working Nevadan who toils every day on behalf of advertisers. He has nothing to do with news coverage or the opinion pages of the Review-Journal.

Yet, as Bob shook hands with our senior U.S. senator in what should have been nothing but a gracious business setting, Reid said: “I hope you go out of business.”

Later, in his public speech, Reid said he wanted to let everyone know that he wants the Review-Journal to continue selling advertising because the Las Vegas Sun is delivered inside the Review-Journal.

Such behavior cannot go unchallenged.

You could call Reid’s remark ugly and be right. It certainly was boorish. Asinine? That goes without saying.

But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid’s remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was — a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he’s shaking them down.

No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.

If he thinks he can push the state’s largest newspaper around by exacting some kind of economic punishment in retaliation for not seeing eye to eye with him on matters of politics, I can only imagine how he pressures businesses and individuals who don’t have the wherewithal of the Review-Journal.

For the sake of all who live and work in Nevada, we can’t let this bully behavior pass without calling out Sen. Reid. If he’ll try it with the Review-Journal, you can bet that he’s tried it with others. So today, we serve notice on Sen. Reid that this creepy tactic will not be tolerated.

We won’t allow you to bully us. And if you try it with anyone else, count on going through us first.

That’s a promise, not a threat.

And it’s a promise to our readers, not to you, Sen. Reid.

Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.

Having ‘been there, done that’, I have a sneaking suspicion that local cops are not really up to snuff or had training in public protests. They’re thrown in “to keep the peace”. Unfortunately there is a very fine line between keeping the peace and allowing political dissent, no matter how uncomfortable it may make the politicians.

Police are accustomed to confronting civilians and using force against them. Even the good cops (which is most of them).

But that was when she was one of the hoi polloi. Now, she’s in power, and Shea-Porter doesn’t deign to take questions without preselecting who can speak in her presence. And that’s a re-election strategy that is both all too familiar and increasing unlikely to succeed in 2010.

Ed, this of course pre-supposes that the strategy in question is dependant on “free & fair” elections. AS we witness the mobilization of the SEIU, ACORN, Organizing for America and their bretheren, do you not think what we are seeing will be but a warm-up come elections?

Between voter fraud, intimidation of the electorate and the wholesale propaganda of the MSM, does anyone really think we will have an election in the manner of which we are used to?

The growing instances of unionized law enforcement becoming tools of the Fascist/Syndicalist alliance is becoming only more apparent every passing day. The fear of being branded as “tin-foil hat” conspiracy theorists is cultivating a deafing silence in this country in the face of blatant totalitarianism.

If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, just 25% of voters nationwide would keep the current batch of legislators.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure how they would vote.

Overall, these numbers are little changed since last October. When Congress was passing the unpopular $700-billion bailout plan in the heat of a presidential campaign and a seeming financial industry meltdown, 59% wanted to throw them all out. At that time, just 17% wanted to keep them.

There has been a bit of a partisan shift since last fall. With Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress, it’s not surprising to find that the number of Democrats who would vote to keep the entire Congress has grown from 25% last fall to 43% today. In fact, a modest plurality of Democrats would now vote to keep the legislators. Last fall, a plurality of Democrats were ready to throw them all out.

Sadly it reveals the fact that many cops, when it gets right down to it, are government/union hacks. The video of the cop telling a dude at another town hall that he couldn’t have a sign with Obama’s name on it is telling as well.

echosyst on August 30, 2009 at 1:34 PM

I hope the military is different. We need a Stonewall or a Lee to set these tyrants straight.

I’m ashamed to admit this, but I had no idea that was her background. Interesting that someone that made her name that way would have such thin skin about these townhalls. Not really surprising though.

stldave on August 30, 2009 at 1:34 PM

To the contrary, she is all to cognizant to the effectiveness of the tactic by the very faqct of how she attained her current position. All tactics used by the the authoritarians to achieve power are always outlawed after they reach the pinnacle, as they wish to never relinquish it.

Since when has “holding as ticket” been a requirement to speak with our elected representatives?I have noticed that Democrats holding town hall meetings, including my own Bart Gordon, have been calling those who disagree with them, “tea baggers”. Total disrespect from the left.

How many people who see this video are going to be sitting around thinking, “Gosh, I really want to hear what Carol Porter and that SEIU stooge have to say!”

I assume the guy’ll get 20 minutes on Glen Beck next week. And a recurring gig if he turns out to be halfway photogenic.

The Democrats are going to have to step up the pace. If they don’t shut down Fox soon, liberals will still control 95% of the media OUTLETS in America, but they’ll have less than half the viewers. Socialism can’t survive that way.

The beauty of the present circumstances is that while the liberals/marxists have their playbook. Those that believe in Liberty/Freedom have our own playbook. Given to us over 200 years of great men and woman. We have Thomas Paine, Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Tubman, Douglas, Adams, Reagan, etc…. compared to thiese great men Alinsky, Che, Castro, Marx and Lenin are hasbeen washups.

It is time we reread and relearn what those great man said And yes yell it from the top of every tower.

Fight this with the wrods and wisdom of REAL revolutionary ideas. Those of the consitution and the founding fathers…

The lefties keep insisting on made up rights which are no where in the constitution, yet every move towards their dystopian vision is a the the sacrifice of liberty. The end all, be all that is the primary right at the heart of our constitution!

It is a gigantic bait & switch of always promising to provide for ever more, only to deliver less and less. Till eventually you have the right to nothing and the state has a right to all.

WHEN IN THE GENERATIONS SUCCEEDING the one that pledged their lives, their for­tunes, and their sacred honor to usher in the birth of the world’s only truly free nation, Liberty’s Prog­eny incre­men­tally ceded their birthright to the gov­ern­ment con­ceived and designed to serve a free peo­ple, and not be its ser­vant, this gen­er­a­tion is awak­en­ing to the ter­ri­ble mis­take that we, and our ances­tors allowed to hap­pen. Charged with the ter­ri­ble knowl­edge that comes with opened eyes, we now take up the long abdi­cated duty to rouse our fel­low cit­i­zens and actively wrest the power and the lib­er­ties that have been pro­gres­sively talked, cajoled, threat­ened, whee­dled, and extorted from us, not only by those who osten­si­bly served us, but by their sup­port­ers and enablers who, by acci­dent or design, saw fit to usurp and dis­dain such free­doms, that they might be with­held, and where impos­si­ble to with­hold, might be con­demned, until a cor­ro­sive con­tempt for these lib­er­ties, wrapped in vel­vet gloves, might so suf­fo­cate the cir­cu­la­tion of them that this nation, con­ceived in lib­erty and the prov­i­dence of a wise and benev­o­lent cre­ator, might indeed per­ish from the earth, plung­ing the right­ful heirs of a proud and noble her­itage in the the dark­ened waters of chaos, despair, and evil that sur­round them, a dank del­uge that even today, other human beings actively seek to escape from in the inspir­ing embrace of this blessed and free country

The lefties keep insisting on made up rights which are no where in the constitution, yet every move towards their dystopian vision is a the the sacrifice of liberty. The end all, be all that is the primary right at the heart of our constitution!

It is a gigantic bait & switch of always promising to provide for ever more, only to deliver less and less. Till eventually you have the right to nothing and the state has a right to all.

Archimedes on August 30, 2009 at 2:21 PM

The consitution ensures that ALL rights and privilages not given to the government is reserved to the states and the people. Thus the liberals fail to understand that they all ready have the right to healthcare. Just that some can not/will not pay for that right.

What Obamacare is trying to do is take the right away from people for healthcare and give them one and only one option for thier healthcare. In effect Obamacare TAKES RIGHTS AWAY from the people and gives the power over healthcare to the government.

I think people understand this internally yet do not have the knowledge to KNOW this.